Optical data storage media (“optical media”) are media in which data is stored in an optically readable manner. Data is encoded by optical changes in one or more layers of the media. Formats of optical medium include read-only formats such as CD-DA (digital audio compact disc), CD-ROM (CD-read-only memory), DVD (digital versatile disc or digital video disc) Blu-ray ROM media, write-once read-many times (WORM) formats such as CD-R (CD-recordable), and DVD-R (DVD-recordable), as well as rewritable formats such as found on magneto-optical (MO) discs, CD-RW (CD-rewriteable), DVD-RAM (DVD-Random Access Media), DVD-RW or DVD+RW (DVD-rewriteable), PD (Phase change Dual disk by Panasonic), Blu-ray RE and other phase change optical discs.
Optical media are susceptible to theft all along the supply chain. For example, optical media disks are commonly placed on shelves in the retail-leasing establishment, thereby being susceptible to theft. Even if the optical media disks are stored in cases containing, for example, an electronic article surveillance (“EAS”) tag or label, the optical media can typically be removed from the storage case with difficulty. In fact, optical media are susceptible to being removed from shipping cartons or from individual cases before even reaching a final point of sale.
Current approaches to combating the optical media theft problem have been to make the media cases difficult to open, embed EAS or RFID tags in the media cases, increase video surveillance along the supply chain, or simply reducing consumer's unsupervised access to the product. However, each of these approaches is met with several disadvantages, including easy of circumvention and cost.
In addition to the theft problem of optical media, it may some times be desirable to prevent access of the optical media content that is otherwise lawfully being possessed. For example, one may want to distribute optical media but delay its access until the occurrence of some future event (e.g., payment).
Thus, there is still an unsatisfied need for a system and method for preventing the unauthorized access of optical media content.